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À bout de souffle
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À bout de souffle (1960) More at IMDbPro »

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À bout de souffle (1960) -- Trailerfan.com - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
8.0/10   18,484 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 2% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Jean-Luc Godard (screenplay)
François Truffaut (story)
Contact:
View company contact information for Breathless on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
7 February 1961 (USA) more
Tagline:
The film that was banned for 4 years. Why..? (original Finnish poster tagline)
Plot:
A young car thief kills a policeman and tries to persuade a girl to hide in Italy with him. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination more
User Comments:
To those who "don't understand" more (123 total)

Cast

  (in credits order) (complete, awaiting verification)
Jean-Paul Belmondo ... Michel Poiccard

Jean Seberg ... Patricia Franchini
Daniel Boulanger ... Police Inspector Vital
Jean-Pierre Melville ... Parvulesco
Henri-Jacques Huet ... Antonio Berrutti
Van Doude ... Himself
Claude Mansard ... Claudius Mansard

Jean-Luc Godard ... An Informer
Richard Balducci ... Tolmatchoff
Roger Hanin ... Cal Zombach
Jean-Louis Richard ... A Journalist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Liliane David ... Liliane
Jean Domarchi ... A Drunk
Jean Douchet ... A Journalist
Raymond Huntley ... A Journalist
André S. Labarthe ... A journalist
François Moreuil ... A journalist
Liliane Robin ... Minouche
José Bénazéraf ... (uncredited)
Philippe de Broca ... A Journalist (uncredited)
Michel Fabre ... Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)
Louiguy ... (uncredited)
Michel Mourlet ... (uncredited)
Guido Orlando ... (uncredited)
Madame Paul ... (uncredited)
Raymond Ravanbaz ... (uncredited)
Jacques Serguine ... (uncredited)
Jacques Siclier ... (uncredited)
Virginie Ullmann ... (uncredited)
Emile Villion ... (uncredited)
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Directed by
Jean-Luc Godard 
 
Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Jean-Luc Godard  screenplay
François Truffaut  story

Produced by
Georges de Beauregard .... producer
 
Original Music by
Martial Solal 
 
Cinematography by
Raoul Coutard 
 
Film Editing by
Cécile Decugis 
Lila Herman 
 
Makeup Department
Phuong Maittret .... makeup artist (uncredited)
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Pierre Rissient .... assistant director
 
Art Department
Clément Hurel .... poster artist
 
Sound Department
Jacques Maumont .... sound
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Claude Beausoleil .... camera operator
 
Editorial Department
Lila Herman .... assistant editor
 
Other crew
Claude Chabrol .... technical advisor
Suzon Faye .... script supervisor (uncredited)
 

Production CompaniesDistributors
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Breathless (UK) (subtitle) (USA)
By a Tether (UK) (informal title)
more
Runtime:
90 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The song playing when Michel goes to visit the first girl in Paris is "Pity Pity" by Paul Anka (released in 1959). more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Michel Poiccard: After all, I'm an asshole. After all, yes, I've got to. I've got to!
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in 50 Films to See Before You Die (2006) (TV) more

FAQ

What is the movie playing in the theater when Michel and Patricia are trying to escape from the detectives?
What does Michel say at the end of the movie?
What is the significance of Michel rubbing his lips with his thumb?
more
150 out of 168 people found the following comment useful.
To those who "don't understand", 1 December 2005
10/10
Author: izmatt (izmatt18@cinci.rr.com) from Cincinnati, Ohio

I don't blame those who state that they do not "understand" the superlatives surrounding Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 masterpiece, Breathless. It's primarily because to appreciate Breathless, one has to view the movie from a historical context, which also requires studying of not only the French New Wave, but film theories as a whole, and the lives of those apart of the New Wave. Breathless accomplished many things unprecedented prior (many completely unprecedented, but some things are not-so-much).

Roger Ebert put it best when he said that just as film fanatics may now stand outside a movie theatre waiting for the next Quentin Tarantino movie to be released, film enthusiasts were doing so for Godard in the 1960s. He was a revolutionary, which is why MovieMaker magazine called him the 4th most influential director of ALL-TIME (only behind Welles, Griffith, and Hitchcock)! What did Godard do different? Breathless is all style, simple as that. The story line is interesting, yes, but is Godard's aesthetics, production modes, subject matters, and storytelling methods that are key. First of all, the whole movie was shot on a hand-held camera, just like most all New Wave pictures. It was, however, only shot by two people (Godard and his cinematographer, Rouald) on a budget that did not top $50,000, a mere fraction of what most pictures cost at the time (another facet of the New Wave). It was shot completely on location in Paris, and utilized new film-making techniques that would be used by film-making students for decades to come (such as putting the camera in a mail cart on the Champs Elysees and following Belmondo and Seberg). Note Godard's use of American cinema influence, and how the montage art of the 1950s impacted this aesthetic.

(A brief New Wave lesson: Most New Wave directors were displeased with the "tradition of quality," or the older generation directors who, as Truffaut put it, made the "twelve or so" pictures per year that represented France at Venice and Cannes. Most of these pictures classic or modern literary adaptations, completely stagnant in artistic quality with rehashed subject matters based on historical periods. New Wave directors supported NEW tales of modern Parisian life, primarily, and were sick of the themes found in the tradition of quality films.) The storytelling methods in Breathless are perhaps the most fascinating part of the film. The jump cuts may seem lame, but one must again view them from a historical context: it had never been done before. This is exactly why Breathless is important -- practically every technique was revolutionary. They are so submerged into film-making practices now that Breathless seems typical. Yet at the time, it was, as I said prior, unprecedented.

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Uncut version s-biggs
French language question shadow04-2
Who could you see playing the characters today? TucoTheUgly66
Je T'aime John Wayne (this is hilariously awesome) TucoTheUgly66
Has French new wave cinema survived in the face of Hollywood domination? steph_houston
Which director now reminds you of the early Godard? kBillysuperSounds
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